Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas was pretty sick. We ate at the bishops house with most of the
missionaries. I appreciate all the gifts. So far I got the Frisbee, which I
used today, the pants, the puzzle,the suspenders, the jump rope, and the
candy. Thanks!

This week starts the carnivales in Nariño. It's gonna be nuts. I got a
free carnivales poster. There's lots of super cheap stuff you can buy in the
streets. I love it. It's like a giant swap meet. I bought a laser pen. It
helps keep the dogs away.

This Sunday I hit a year and a half... crazy stuff.

Hope things are going well. Things are fine here. We're just chugging
along like usual.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Fernanda got baptized last week. It was really cool because she has been
investigating for like a year and all her kids are members of the church.

The Capitan Moroni award is for getting 10 baptisms within 3
months. I'm pretty stoked because it's one of those goals that all the
missionaries in the mision have and I finally got it. Pretty sweet.

Elder A. comp, Elder R. (J), is leaving and Elder C. from
Argentina is gonna be his new comp. He was in my district in Pasto when I first
arrived here. He and Elder A. have had some issues in the past. Hopefully
everything works out ok. Elder A. (former comp) is the new Assistant to
the President.

Monday, December 9, 2013

We had some baptisms last Saturday. Pedro P., Gloria N. and
Heider Dubán P.. Pedro and Gloria got married on Friday and baptized
Saturday. I baptized Dubán. We got really lucky with him cause without knowing
beforehand, we set the baptismal date for his parents on the 7th and it just
happened to be the same day Dubán turned 8. I got to baptize Dubán and confirm
Gloria.

I think maybe God wanted me to learn something because the first half of
my mission I was only able to baptize 10 people and now, in the first 5 months
of the second half, I've been able to baptize 15 more (if I counted right).
Maybe God needed me to seed a bit before harvesting. Who knows... but it's nice
to be seeing a bit of success.

I hope Joey Johnson does alright. And hope his family is okay.

I played mircosoccer again today. Woot. I scored a couple goals again.
Nice.

I ate rabbit for the first time yesterday. It was alright. I sent a
picture of Cuy (guinea pig) and potatoes.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Hey,

A couple interesting things. First our investigators Magali and Bryan
I. got baptized. Was sick. I baptized Bryan. He's 10. I also confirmed
him. Was sick, I had never confirmed anyone before, was cool.

Another interesting thing, about an hour ago I saw the presidents of
Colombia and Ecuador. The one from Colombia is president Santos. They were
doing something with a bridge between Ecuador and Colombia. When he was
leaving, he got really close. Was way sick.. Elder A.almost shook his hand.

We are about to go sell arroz con leche so the couple we teach can get married and baptized. Nice!

Haven't had cuy (guinea pig) yet. It's been over a year. I want to try it again.

We're teaching this one lady, Fernanda. She always goes to church and is the only person in her family who's not baptized. We can't figure out whats holding her back.

We're getting hyped up for what is supposed to be the best month in the history of the mission.

Oh yeah, forgot I was sick in bed with fever from Monday to Thursday. When I finally went to the hospital, they just gave me some medication. Finally better.

We're all collecting these little stickers you get from buying a little chocolate call "jet." There's an album you can buy and fill it up. Theyre all like plants and animals and stuff with the world. There's 300 all together.

Things are going pretty well. It was cool to see president Santos in person. I've seen the presidents of 2 other countries in person but never my own. Wack

Not gonna be able to respond to other letters for lack of time, but thanks.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Hey

Things are going well. Good news. Elder H. just got transferred here
as the other new zone leader. Now it's him and Elder F., 2 ex comps hah!
Cool to have him around.

We're doing a couples activity tonight with couples who are sealed and the
people who are living together and need to get married to get baptized. We're
hoping these people will be ready for baptism in December.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Hey

Well, I've been in the new area for almost a week. Ipiales is awesome.
It's the farthest away from Cali we can get, right on the border with Ecuador.
My area is called Frontera 2. It's sick because one of the families we teach
is literally a couple minutes walking distance from the river that separates
Colombia and Ecuador. There's a big slope where we can see some city in
Ecuador. It's legit.

My comp is Elder R. from Mexico. He's cool. He's really scared of
dogs. It's pretty funny. He loves to cook too. He has about 13 months in the
mish.

The cool thing about Ipiales is it is always one of the best zones. Elder
R. and I had a great week in spite of transfers. We had 15 investigators
at church, 2nd place in the mish last week. It was legit.

We played a lot of soccer today. All together at least 3 to 4 hours. I'm
dead.

Even though I started my mish in Nariño, I had forgotten how funny the
accent is. Everyone in Valle del Cauca makes fun of the people from Nariño for
their accent, and i was laughing hard the whole day my first day here. It's
kind of hard to describe. It's sort of like an Italian accent. They sing or
their voice goes up and down a lot. I'm sure I'm gonna end up eating cuy again
(guinea pig).

Monday, November 4, 2013

Hey

So we got transfers. I am
now leaving Villa Gorgona after 4 1/2 months. My new area is in Ipiales. I'm
super stoked. It's been over a year now that I've been in Valle del Cauca and
I'm finally going back to Nariño. My area I called frontera. I think I'm gonna
be right on the border of Ecuador. I'm still gonna be district leader. I don't
know my new companion. Elder A. is gonna be in my district again

It's sad leaving Gorgona but
I did my best and left 10 converts. Oh yeah, Junior, one of the sons of Juan
C. and Alba, got baptized on Friday and his dad gave him the Aaronic
priesthood on Sunday. It was sick. I've never seen a progress like the family
Rendon has.

Ipiales is 2 hours away from
Pasto and is part of the district of Pasto, but they are trying to be strong
enough to break away. We're gonna have to work hard but it should be cool.
Ipiales is always towards the top as far as the zones go.

Monday, October 28, 2013

So, first thing, the other week Elders D. and E. found Dr
Pepper. Probably one of the greatest moments of the mission, ha!

My 2 adult male converts here in Villa Gorgona both received the
Melchizedek priesthood yesterday! That should help a lot with the casa capilla
cause.

So we're kinda in that awkward moment where we've baptized almost everyone
we've been teaching and now we don't have many left who are interested. This
week is the kickoff week because in December we are going to try to break the
record of baptisms in a month for the whole history of the mission. September
we came close with like 272 or something like that. We got first in the whole
South America Northeast Area which was sick, but in December we've gotta break
302, which they got in like 1980-something. Gonna be nuts

Elder Musselman brought a football today. It was legit.

Shout out to bish. He was legit! (in
reference to Bishop Smith from our ward, who is finishing his assignment this
week).

Monday, October 21, 2013

Hey

On Friday we had the baptisms of G. Obeso and L. Obeso. It was sick. I baptized Libia. My camera wasn't working but the other
elders took pics. I'll try to get some. and I didn't have a chance to grab my
memory again. I'll try to send pics next week.

So, today we had a big inter-zone microsoccer tournament. It was sick. We
won the first game then lost the second and then won the 3rd against the best
team 3 to 1. They advanced due to the fact that they had scored more goals
overall. They won the whole thing too. Oh well, at least we know we could beat
the champions. I did make one goal with my head. It was sick. I made another
one but they didn't count it.

Other than that, things are all good. Transfers are coming up at the
beginning of next month. Chances are I'm leaving Gorgona.

On the way back from the tournament, we still had our soccer jerseys on.
Some cop stopped us and told us to be careful because we were entering the
territory of another team from Colombia and that it might be kind of
dangerous...nice.

One of our recent converts, Juan Carlos, got the Aaronic Priesthood the
other day. Awesome.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Hey,

Things are going well in Gorgona. Conference was good. I really liked Pres. Uchtdorf's talk. We got 8 people to come down to conference.

We have 2 possible baptisms this Saturday. Kelly, the little sister of
Lina, who just got baptized and Geraldín, who is the daughter of a family we
contacted. The parents haven't been baptized and we haven't been able to talk
much with the dad.

A lady in here is eating ice cream. Looks good

My stomach hurts a bit due to a hot sauce eating contest we had in the zone
today.

Monday, September 30, 2013

Hey,

Transferes arrived and............I'm not going anywhere. I'm actually
relieved because I like being here in Gorgona. The two missionaries in the
other part of the ward both got transferred so I'm the new District Leader. In
the district it's going to be me and Elder R., my ex comp, Elder T., with
some gringo I don't know, and a trio of hermanas (sister missionaries). It's
gonna be 7 missionaries in 1 ward under my charge. It will be nuts at first
because neither Elder T. nor his comp know the new area and a trio of
hermanas is gonna be nuts. But its all good and should be interesting

We had Linas baptism on Saturday. It was sick! Her mom had been inactive
18 years. They live in Cabuyal too, which makes it even harder for them. I
don't have the pics yet but I'll attach the ones of the Rendon family. We're
actually going to go have a family night in their house tonight with the other
members here.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Hey!

Things are going pretty well. We should definitely be having baptisms this
Saturday. We have 3 for sure and 2 more possibles. La familia R has 6
people. Juan Carlos and Alba, their 3 sons Christian (20ish), Rubén (16) and
Junior (15), and their niece Valentina (9). The parents and Valentina are
committed. The oldest kid is never around while we are there, Rubén is really
stubborn and Junior has come to church but he's not sure what he wants. We're
gonna do the interviews tomorrow.

There's also Lina (16), who is the daughter of a less active member for 18
years who we got to come to church twice. They live in Cabuyal, a pueblo that
is even farther away than Villa Gorgona. I'll send the map we are going to send
to the area presidency so you guys can see. Lina hasn't had all the lessons but
really wants to get baptized, so well see what happens..

Other than that, not much new. We hear about transfers Sunday. I'm really
hoping i don't go anywhere.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Hey,

Things are going alright. The Setenta (Seventy) Elder Christopher Waddell
came on Thursday. He served in Barcelona, España as a missionary and
president. It was sick. We're trying really hard to get the casa capilla
(house chapel) out here. I have to fill out a whole bunch of papers and stuff.
I'm basically trying to open a branch...pretty sick!

We're really working hard with the family Rendón. The baptismal day is 21 of September. We're gonna try to get as many in the water as possible, but basically whoever wants it that day, we will baptize and then work to get the rest of the family later. The dad, Juan Carlos was interested when we told him about when Jesus came to the Americas, so we showed him the testaments. It was sick.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Hey

I'm pretty sure you guys already have heard, but if not, on Saturday one of
the elders in the mission was killed in Cali. He was eating lunch when a stray
bullet hit him in the head. They took him to the hospital but he either died
there or on the way. His name was Elder E. from the Dominican
Republic. He was part of my group, meaning he was in the Bogota MTC with me and
showed up to the field at the same time. I didn't know him too well, but I had
talked to him before. It's very sad. It made the news. Apparently the police
don't think it was a stray bullet and are interrogating the elders that were
with him. We don't know much else but they're gonna tell us later.

There was another "paro", or roadblock strike. It's settled down a bit but
its still going and the missionaries in Nariño had to stay in their houses for
awhile. Apparently some sister missionaries were in a taxi when people started
throwing rocks and stuff at it. Nothing has really affected Cali though.

On a brighter note, we convinced the hermano who has a small bus to come
help us pick up investigators for last Sunday. We broke my previous church
attendance record and got 17. It was dope.

Elder Christoffer Waddel of the Seventy is coming Thursday to visit. It
should be sick.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Hey

Things are going well. I've been talking to President Prince about getting
a "casa capilla" (house chapel) out here in Villagorgona. That would be sick.
It will require a lot of work, but it's definitely possible. That's how
Buenaventura started also, and they have over a hundred people now.

We are trying to get this one family baptized the on the 14th. It's the
family Rendón. The mom, Alba, really wants it, but her two sons are a bit
rebellious. The 9 year old daughter will probably get baptized too. The
husband is somewhere in between her, the wife, and the kids with his desires.
We'll see what happens there.

Found a scorpion in the house for the third time since I've been
here.

Played mini soccer today. Scored 7 goals. Nice

Still eating lots of rice. I don't ever want to eat rice again after the
mish. except when I come back to visit.

Spanish is coming along well. I pretty much understand everything. Only
when people speak with a lot of slang is it difficult.

Monday, August 12, 2013

We didn't have anyone come to church last Sunday. That's the fist time
since I've been here. I don't know what happened but were gonna try to step it
up this week.

Just ate a hamburger. Doesn't even compare to the US. oh well, haha

We had a guy named Wainer who was going good towards his baptism, but then
his girlfriend (who is a church member) broke up with him and got a new
boyfriend a week later. So, he's really ticked. He knows the church is true
and everything, but doesn't want to go to church and see her. It stinks. Or,
as we say here, "que piedra."

Monday, July 15, 2013

hey

Another week here in Villagorgona.

Last Thursday was pretty cool. Every Thursday we go to this place called
Cabuyal. It's a little town by Villagorgona. We decided to go on bikes this
time. It was cool. I felt like your typical missionary.

A couple days ago, there was a fire in Villagorgona. It was pretty nuts.
It was less than a hundred meters from hitting the block where we live. The
funniest part was that all the Colombians didn't even notice or didn't even
care. People were just there playing soccer in the street or whatever. It was
pretty sweet.

Also, apparently Villagorgona has some issues with water. From today until
Friday, we are not gonna have water there. So we are staying with the other
missionaries in the district here in Cali. We'll still go to Villagorgona in
the day but we sleep in Cali.

We played microfútbol today like we usually do on p-days. I must say I am
getting a lot better than I was. I scored the first 5 consecutive goals in the
game. It was pretty sweet. I've caught the fútbol fever.

Speaking of fever, I also have the normal fever. I had to stay home
yesterday. We went to church then we went home and I had to sleep because I was
feeling pretty sick. Saturday night was the worst though. I woke up in the
middle of the night and started shaking kinda uncontrollably for like 15 minutes
and then got all hot and couldn't sleep so I had to take some stuff. I feel
better now. Not 100 percent, but the worst has passed.

Information for mailing packages to Elder Chase

If you ship a package with a private courier, you will need this phone number 57 2-892-1709

This is the mission office address. You may mail letters and packages to this address.
To mail a letter of normal size and weight it costs 98 cents to mail it here.
You can use the church pouch mail for letters at the following address:

Elder Brandon Chase

Colombia Cali Mission

POB 30150

Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

Pouch Mail Instructions: To prevent possible fines, only postcards and letters that are single sheet, folded into three-panels, and taped at the top only (no envelopes) may be sent through the pouch. Packages cannot be sent through pouch mail.
I think using US Mail is less expensive and just fine...I would NOT use their priority shipping as it seems to be more expensive.
Here are some hints we have learned about the mail system to/from Colombia:
It is better to send things in padded envelopes rather than boxes.

If the packages weigh less than 2 kilos (about 4 lbs) they usually arrive without the missionary having to pay a fee to get it out of customs.

You should declare ANY package at a value LESS than about $20 to also avoid paying a customs fee.
Most letters and packages are taking about 14 or 15 days to arrive.
Our missionaries have to PAY ON TOP of what you have paid to ship...just to receive the package... IF it is too heavy or worth a lot. It is better to send 2 envelopes than to pay a lot and send a big box.
Mail leaving Colombia for the USA is VERY VERY expensive. I tried to mail a regular letter to my brother and they wanted 77 mil pesos or about 40 dollars to mail it. I did NOT mail it.
The best way to communicate with your missionary is via email.

If you want to put money on a debit card he brought with him....that is also an excellent gift.
Once a package arrives in the office it can take up to a month to get it out to the missionary as our mission is SO big and we have to wait until we can get it to the zone leaders at a conference.
If you want to send something for Christmas, plan accordingly for the time it might take and mark the package FOR CHRISTMAS.